After over 3 years of excellent work, Grifter and Midnite have decided to step down as forum moderators. Their diligence and sound judgment have given me complete piece of mind through the years, and it is sad to see them go. I hope they continue to visit often.

We will hold an election for new Hit or Stand moderators. As before, there will be two people elected. To be added the ballot, you must be nominated by somebody else, and you must accept the nomination - this is all done by replying to this thread.

The big issue of the board today is spam. The vBulletin software comes with all sorts of tools and settings to battle it. More on that later.

A word on the time commitment: Because of the increasing spam problem, we are probably going to change the settings so that posts from new users must be approved by a moderator before they are posted. There is a private page that moderators will go to and check off which ones are ok, and which are spam. Moderators can choose to receive email notifications, or not. I'm still learning about all these settings.

So basically I will work with you to setup a system that is efficient, but requiring regular (daily) moments of attention.

Thank you nc-tom for the nomination, but I'm not sure if I would be able to put the proper amount of time in to do the job in the same competent manner that Grifter and Midnite have in the past. As much as I would like to do it, I must decline the nomination.

One consideration to think about is time zone coverage and this was a part of my thinking. The ideal situation is to have one each, east/west coast.

I know Nickels knows the east coast games, but Grifter and Ihate17 appeared to be the most experienced in the west and we get a lot of questions about LV, etc.

The second moderator may not need to be a "whiz-kid" with many years of experience. So, what about "Prog"? I think he is west coast, has good judgment and would be a good starter person for new counters.

My only objection to Prog is his title. I don't think a forum that has a moderator named Progressionists sends the right message.If he'll shorten his name to Progress...,he's got my vote.Would you take a forum moderated by a guy called martingale very seriously?

Thank you Ray for the thought and NYB your remark about a guy named Martingale had me laughing for 15 minutes!I am seriously flattered that you guys would even think of my name but I must decline as I'm not even close to being qualified! Thanks alot thogh!Prog

PhilTx- I have plans to be in the UK and Ireland in the near-term. I have no idea of my availability during that time or when I return. It is an election year and I will be involved in that on a daily basic starting Oct. first.

As I see it, our main exposure is SPAM and other none blackjack junk. I think the forum has several people that can answer most questions, etc. Grifter will still be around and I would guess Renzey will be here at times.

If all it entails is filtering the spam,I'll be happy to do it.If it involves getting into the middle of flame-wars,which I've not really seen on this forum,then its a thankless job.

Depends on the forum software. I am moderator on a couple of other (non-BJ) fora, using this same software. SPAM is a bit of a headache, as you can get a bunch in a few minutes, once some idiot has signed up with several accounts. It isn't an impossible job, but it can take time when there is a full-moon, or the wolfbane is in bloom, or whatever.

The duties of a moderator on a message board (forum) are to check that what is posted is appropraiate and in the right place, and to edit posts for inappropriate language etc.

He has the power, or should have, unless this power is soley in the hands of admins, to delete posts that have nothing to do with the forums they are posted in, or are abusive to other members - flames, etc.

He is also entitled to move posts that have been posted in the wrong forum. In such a case he will send a PM to the poster telling him where his post has been moved to. This is not such a big deal on this board as it does not have many forums, but on a message board with over 100 forums moderators are essential.

No computer skills are required and basically anyone who can play blackjack at student level can moderate this board, because a moderator does not need to comment on any 'correct' post and especially on those posts that are beyond his expertise. There are always experts on the board a mod can get advice from if required, and among these will be administrators.

A moderator moderates the board not the comments posted, unless those comments fall outside the forum rules.

Moderators may keep in touch with administrators via PM - Private Message - ICQ, MSN, etc or in the moderator's forum if one is available, so should there come a time when a difficult decison needs to be made, admins are relatively easy to contact.Moderator and admin forums on a board may be hidden from general members such as you and I, meaning that you will only gain access to those forums when promoted to the respective rank.

A mod needs to have an interest in the board. Needs to visit every day, twice a day at least to see what is going on, and to check that all is as it should be on the board.

Well, I see in my abscence that quite a few folks think I should moderate the group in part.

Well, I don't play as much as I used to, and what action I partake in IS limited to the E. Coast (CT/NJ).

I have been a moderator at a few yahoo groups... YUCK!, what a mess. If it ain't private, its toast. Both groups went private, and both have died quietly in their sleep. From 1998 to 2001 these weren't that bad, but there was work every day. Jerks posting links to all variety of porn, drugs, and phishers. Others with a fairly endowed photo of "themselves", etc. Then it got real bad when Yahoo itself didn't do THEIR part with reported stuff. Next thing is new format with ads every few clicks while looking at previous posts. This was the last straw for most moderators. Impossible to root out the sources unless private.

Quite frankly, theres much to like about this forum. After forgetting the exact spelling of my nic, I started a new one and was greeted by anti-bot request. Has the e-mail been sent after 2 hours? ;o) Fortunately I did remember thanks to the posters here, and I'm back. BTW the e-mail addy is false (IN Mem. Info) to prevent the tons o' spam due.

BUT, I'm not tolerant of FLAME, and thats been going on here a bit. There's a few here that wudda been sent to Father o'Blivion's House of Molten Brimstone.

IMHO if you haven't shoved the legal papers in Norm's mailbox documenting fact and perpetration, and requesting a court appearance, your claim is flame.

I am biased against damaging the reputation in the "court of public opinion", especially at the behest of attention-grabbing. No doubt there are Media Employee spinmeisters (or wanna bees, or blogits) here.... The profile fits.

Now that its out here:

Lets post a list of Blackjack Blogs, Casino Blogs, (brick and mortar only), etc. Lets find out who is posting opinion elsewhere besides the traditional BBS's. Bloggers have this unique ability to tattle, fib, and expose.

IMHO that will aid us all rather well.

I have NO idea how much time to invest here per day, but it can't be worse than the 5+ at yahoo groups.